Sunset Orange
by rhead-a-holyc
Summary: Like the timely sun, they would rise again when the time was right. Oneshot. Challenge fic.


**_Disclaimer:_**** I do not own Harry Potter (obviously)**

**Diagon Alley Fic Crawl Challenge - Florean Florescue's Ice Cream Parlour [Sunset orange]**

**_Sunset Orange_**

The sky was darkening quickly, and only the last feeble rays of the dying sun filtered through the ever deepening darkness. Night would fall soon but not yet. The sky reflected a rare moment of utterly breathtaking beauty before it finally was able to rest. Perhaps not forever, but temporarily resting from their sight, tired but very much alive, ready to return when the time was right, after the moon had its moment of brilliance on the now darkened stage they shared.

In a way the sun was similar to them, and their struggles . The Room of Requirement provided them with a temporary view of the outside whenever they felt particularly claustrophobic or trapped in the castle that had once been their protector. Now it was only this room that was their protector for their enemies lurked within the walls. Hogwarts herself had never been their enemy. She never would harm any of her students. She was their protector. A protector that had been so very tiredly resting after a long, long time on duty. It had only been a moment of rest but that moment had been too long for the children she housed to defend themselves.

They were weak, and unable to protect themselves without her help. It had been far too easy for the Dark Lord to take over Hogwarts after Dumbledore had fallen off the Astronomy Tower what seemed like a lifetime ago. The late headmaster had looked like a broken puppet whose owner had grown tired of him. Like a chess piece after the player had lost his first game. He had fallen permanently, like a large tree, never to awaken to the world again. The only person on their side that had the knowledge needed to defeat the Dark Lord. They had heard rumours of Harry, Ron and Hermione being on the run trying to defeat the Dark Lord from advice the late headmaster had given them in his will. The Dark Lord and the Death Eaters were always speaking angrily about that whenever one of them passed by the resistance's many hiding places.

They had not fallen like the headmaster. They had fallen only once, but they had fallen hard. They had gone to sleep, in hibernation almost, biding their time. They were still in their night, invisible to the eye but there nonetheless. They were working in the darkness that night had lent them, underestimated by their lack of freedom. They should know the power of the desperate, the utter lack of control that came with seeing no other way out, and that was where they were being led to. A dead end where their only option was to fight back.

The colour and the hope in that innocent sight made them all pause for a moment, no matter what they were doing. It was rare for the Room to give them such a beautiful sight. Usually the room only showed them the shadowed Forbidden Forest and scenes during the night, perhaps knowing that it would only make it worse for them when they actually lost again. It would make the fall even harder than before because they expected something to give them a bit of leverage in their situation. Expectation was dangerous, especially to them. They couldn't expect anything lest they failed and gave up, they had to maintain their determination because that was truly all they had left. Their hope had slowly being giving way to helplessness and despair no matter how many times they head the secret radio station the Order had set up, no matter how many times they heard Fred and George's voices arguing over their chosen names. It was going on for too long. It was just too much. Had it been any other time, they would still have been considered children but they weren't children anymore. They had seen and experienced too much. They were jaded.

This, this was different. This was beauty. It was a hope they had wanted to believe in but had never dared to. It was like a breath of fresh air after a long stay in some underground shelter. It was a drop of rain in a parched desert. It was extremely close to unbelievable for them, but for once it was true. It wasn't a dream no matter how many times they tried to pinch themselves and punch each other thinking that it had to be a dream. They had forgotten that particular shade of orange they had taken for granted after catching a glimpse of the sunset almost everyday for their entire lives. Then the sight had been meaningless, beautiful but it meant nothing. Now the sight meant everything they had never dared to say out loud.

It was an indication from Hogwarts that she believed that they were ready. That something would happen to tip the scales in their favour. Hogwarts believed that it was time for them to lift their spirits and revive their mellowing hope.

They knew that soon they would have to begin fighting once more. They would have to gather everything they had left and fight with all that and more. They would have to fight for all the people that had been lost, all the people that had never been given a chance to know anything of the world they were supposed to be a part of. They would have to fight for the future they had always known they would have but had begun to doubt. They could not allow a shred of doubt to fill their bodies now, they were too close to the end.

Like the timely sun, they would rise again when the time was right.


End file.
